I found an extremely poignant quote on the wall of perhaps the worst hotel I've ever stayed in in my entire life during the move to San Francisco. Now that I'm in my apartment instead of the afforementioned crappy hotel, I'd like to share it with you guys:

“You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” -Jack London.

Finding that quote was worth all of the sticky carpets and dirty bathrooms that were endured in the process. (And no, I have yet to figure out why the carpets were sticky...)

How many times have you put down the pencil, the paintbrush, or the stylus because you didn't feel "inspired"? For writers, how many pieces did you scrap or never finish writing because it just wasn't flowing right? If it's similar to mine, then you lost count years ago.

We all make excuses for why we don't draw or paint as much as we feel we should; we call it "artists block" or say our muse has "gone missing."

Either we slave for hours over a piece that refuses to come out right, or we realize somewhere along the line that we don't yet posess the technical skill to get our mental image down on paper correctly. It's a discouraging realization, so we stop, we crumple it up, and we say we'll do it later.

Then we never do.

Don't let yourself make excuses whenever you realize your work just isn't flowing, because if you're pursuing art (or writing, or photography, or pretty much any creative field) professionaly, you won't have the luxury of waiting for inspiration. Even if the end result isn't what you'd hope for, even if it's not perfect, even if it just downright sucks, push through and finish it. You'll learn a hell of a lot more than if you'd just given up and chalked the loss up to "lack of inspiration."

Next time your muse goes missing, hunt her down, club her over the head, and drag that troublesome skank back by the hair. It'll be worth it when 6 months down the road you realize that finishing all of those terrible paintings and awful sketches made you one hell of a better artist. And they will.

I felt the need to post this for you guys, because nobody should miss out on seeing something this epic.

[link]

DACAD Update: Since I am going to be stupid busy over the next few months, some amazing people are helping to renovate DACAD to get things more active. Please add to your watch lists to keep up to date on the latest goings on over there, and give a huge thanks to:



They're giving a lot of time and effort to pick up the slack from those of us who got busy.

Journals: Since I won't be posting many DACAD updates in this journal from here on out, I'm going to try something new. I rely a lot on art blogs and journals to help keep me motivated and introduce me to new things in the art world. I'd like to do the same thing here on DA.

Every few days (aiming for daily, but we all know that things come up), I'm going to put up a new journal. Sometimes it will be a link to a tutorial or another art blog, other times it will just be my thoughts on random art topics that I've gotten questions about or just feel like discussing. If you were only watching this account for the DACAD stuff, feel free to unwatch it. But if you'd like to stick around for the journals, feel free to do that as well.

Commission: I'll update the commission list this weekend. I have a few more done, but they're on my desktop which is packed up in the car. Yes, they are all getting done. No need to fret.

I move into my new apartment on Friday, so I'll have reliable internet access again. See you guys then!

As I'm sitting here, about to turn off my computer, wake up tomorrow and make the 12-hour drive to San Francisco to start working towards my dream career, I just wanted to write down something that I've been thinking about a lot lately. It was mentioned in an episode of Glee (I'm cheesy and sappy, yeah yeah yeah), but I think it sums up my feelings on pursuing art as a career, or any "dream" job. I have seen so many people who go through life with no real passion, no drive. They greet life with apathy and limit themselves by listening to what others say they can or can't do.


"The only life worth living is one you're really passionate about."


Do not be complacent.

Do not settle.

Do not tell yourself that it's too late.

Do not count yourself out.

Do not be lazy.

Do not think anything is going to be handed to you.

Do not think that "talent" outweighs hard work.

Whatever it is that you really, truly love to do; do it. Do not half-ass it while working on a back-up plan. Put everything you have into it, chase it like you really fucking mean it, and don't let go of that goal until you reach it. Don't lower your standards to make things easy. Throw yourself headfirst into whatever it is that you love, and no matter how many times people tell you that you're an idiot for not getting that Science degree.

Or that English degree.

For choosing to pursue your dream instead of going to Law school.

For living off of Ramen and Oatmeal so that you can spend less time working and more time painting, or photographing, or whatever it is that you love.

For turning down that full ride to a state university to study art instead.

For deciding at the age of 25, or 30, or 40, that you are going to pursue your dream instead of working one more day at your soul sucking 9 - 5 dayjob.

For disappointing your parents by not becoming a doctor.

For daring to pursue something that makes you happy instead of rich.

If you want it badly enough, you can find a way to make it happen. It might be a difficult road full of rejection, failure, and setbacks, but "nothing in life worth having comes easy."

So next time someone tells you you're stupid for doing these things, silly to pursue your dream, wasting your time on something you love simply because it is a challenging road that requires work and dedication, do me a favor. Look them right in the eye, smile, and say:

"Fuck you."

Then go prove them wrong.




I'll see you guys in a few days. I'll have an update for you on the status of commissions and DAcademy then.

I've gotten a few question recently on the subject of staying motivated to draw, even when you don't want to. The truth of it is, you're not always going to be motivated. And when motivation fails, you need discipline. If you have a scheduled drawing time set aside, do the following:

-Turn off the TV
-Turn off AIM, MSN, and any other messengers. No, away messages won't suffice. Turn them OFF.
-Log off of IRC.
-Close DeviantArt.
-Turn off your cellphone.
-Put on whatever music gets you in the mood to draw.
-Set a goal for yourself in terms of what you're trying to get done. If you can't think of anything, work on anatomy studies until something pops into your head.

Many people will sit down to draw and spend the next four hours surfing DA, and at the end of it they will have nothing to show for the time. If you really want to improve, you're going to have to kick yourself in the ass sometimes. There is no magical trick that is going to fix things and make you want to draw all the time. Very, very few professional artists are lucky enough to have that burning need to draw at ALL TIMES. Everyone else just worked their asses off.

The other question I've been getting is: What is going on with DAcademy?

That one I still need to talk to Endling and Llourn about. Right now I barely have time between work and art to even chat online
9And come November I will have pretty much no free time), and I know Endling and Llourn are similarly busy. There was a huge burst of interest from instructors at the beginning, but it significantly waned once it came time to actually do something. The same has happened on the side of people wanting to learn. So the answer is: I don't know, I'll let you guys know in a few days when we figure it out.

For the past year and a half it's been my goal to attend conceptart.org's Next-Gen Atelier program in SF. It's rated the #1 digital art school in the world by Imagine FX. Two years of 9+ hours of hands on art instruction, working with some of the top talent in the concept art field. It's an amazing opportunity for one-on-one instruction, since there's only about 15 students at any one time. Here's the description from ImagineFX:

"#1 ConceptArt Atelier, San Francisco

While other institutions provide a grounding in the general classical and digital arts skills so valuable to forging a career as a concept artist, this school – created by acclaimed design studio Massive Black and ConceptArt.org – is a somewhat different proposition. As the name suggests, it focuses solely on training for concept art work, with tutoring from a team of teachers, led by Massive Black president Jason Manley, whose combined 20 years’ worth of knowledge (and extensive experience hosting workshops) has been distilled to create a professional level two-year program. Competition for enrolment is fierce, but for artists looking to pursue a concept design career in games, film or other entertainment fields, ConceptArt Atelier may well provide the ultimate launch pad."

As of today, I am in as long as I can get my happy butt out to SF before November. I cannot even begin to describe my excitement. I wanted to post this because I owe a HUGE thanks to every person who has given me words of support, critiqued me, or told me how much I suck. And extra thanks to for having so much faith in my ability to make it in.

Soon, the hard part will really begin. I couldn't be more thrilled.